New Zealand 2011 trip, Day 14, Jan 16th: Jade Country, West Coast

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1/16 12:55pm, McDonald's, Greymouth

White skies, wet clothes…

Wendy was up a couple times early in the morning, with itches. Heard some hard rain ~6am, and checked our clothes on the deck. Pulled the laundry-draped chairs in closer to the sliding glass doors. Someone else's laundry was hanging on the clothes line in the lawn.

Finally up with 8:30am alarm. Cooked up onions, tomatoes, and eggs for Wendy. I ate yogurt with muesli and banana. Talked to guy from Germany, who says all the tracks south are good, especially the Rees-Dart. He says to check the River Track up the road, even for just for a 10 min walk.

A look at our room (after loading the car), as well as the big kitchen/common area upstairs, at Punakaiki Beach Hostel...

We drop off the key at 10am, and check out a very small market in the village. I buy a handmade notebook for $10 (for game scores).

Too bad we didn't have more time and good weather to enjoy the beach front. Wendy checks out the vendor tables at this small market...

Then we head up the road to check out the River track. It's misting slightly as we walk into a jungle. Indeed, a short hike here is a must! The rain forest is beautiful and the views open to reveal we are in a wide river basin. This track leads to a 2-day hike, which would be wonderful, but we are very pleased with our 20min investigation.

A series of pics from the River Track near Punakaiki...

Beautiful forest...

Before leaving the area, we head back to Pancake rocks, and check the weather at the info center. The weather is iffy (severe storm watch through this afternoon), but there are conflicting reports, so we're going to take our chances south despite the weather. It starts raining harder as we walk out to pancake rocks again. Glad we went last night, as the conditions were more favorable.

Another visit to Pancake Rocks...

...in the drizzle...

The rainy drive south along the coast yields no views. We stop in Greymouth to visit a Jade gallery (Wendy bought a $10 Jade rock), and decide to check out McDonalds. We order 20 chicken McBites, and great Angus burger. The burger is not as good as the other 3 takeaway burgers we've had so far in NZ.

Rain during the drive down the coast. A look inside a Jade gallery/shop in Greymouth...

After McD's, we stopped at Countdown to buy yogurt and some fruit (last big grocery store on the west coast). Then continued south to Hokitika, "Jade Country". The town was chock full of Jade stores, each like a museum. We spent a good hour in town, and Wendy bought another small Jade rock. I ate my PBJ.

McD's angus burger wasn't as good as the other cheap takeaways we've tried. We stopped at a glass factory in Hokitika...

There must have been a dozen Jade stores in town. Wendy bought a piece, and checks to see what kind it is...

Then we continued south on route 6, through soupy air, and limited views of this supposedly scenic road. Wendy took a nap. After about an hour, the air became more clear, and I even saw a couple of small patches of blue sky 30km from Franz Glacier. It looked promising that the fog would lift. We stopped at a hostel, and found a room (ensuite), for $85NZ. Pricier than usual, but nice having a full bathroom. Huge hostel. They had a free movie library, and I grabbed the LOTR tapes (first time using VHS in like 6 years).

It was cloudy on the drive down this top quality scenic coast. I eagerly searched the skies for any hints of a clearing...

We unloaded our (tons of) bags from the car, and then did a cross fit workout: 100 burpees, while watching LOTR (times: 8:47 Matt, 9:20 Wendy, not bad…). We recognized the scenes in Hobbiton from our visit 11 days ago.

Then we went downstairs to the very busy kitchen, and cooked dinner. We bought a kg of green mussels. Wendy prepared them, along with cooked zucchini, and yams. I ran to the store to buy lettuce for salad (left it at the last hostel accidently). People were watching American Pie in the lounge.

Our room in a Franz Joseph Backpackers. Beware the long arm of Wendy! (wide angle effect)...

The green mussels were really good! This was one of our favorite cooked meals so far...

After dinner, we used some of the free internet on the lounge computer (line was short) to check the weather, and found out this place will be socked in till Wed night (3 days!). Not gonna wait around. We'll have to skip the glaciers, and cross the Alps to reach better weather on the east side. We spent a lot of time discussing options, but haven't figured out the best plan.

Still not sure where we'll end up tomorrow. No doubt it will amount to lots of driving (lots of it in fog)...

Saw the same Germans that were at the New Plymouth hostel, Egmont visitor center, Tongrariro Crossing, and now here on the South Island, over a span of 8 days. Small world…